Stephanie gave Wolfe a dirty look at the suggestion of tucking her in for an afternoon nap, so he placed her on the table and got out the Adventurers Handbook, his guide to useful magic.
A lot of the early spells in the book were wind and water elements, which Wolfe couldn’t use yet, and the book assumed that readers had received combat magic training at an academy, but there were still some useful spells, and the knowledge of the outside world was invaluable.
So valuable that Wolfe completely lost track of time and was still reading when Cassie and Ella returned after class.
“What are you up to? You missed class.” Ella greeted him as she walked in.
“It was an unavoidable delay. But I got everything that was on the list and some extra stuff. Stephen ran into some trouble with the Headmistress, though, and I’m told he was sent back to the city.” Wolfe explained.
“That’s horrible. Hopefully, he won’t be in too much trouble once he returns. I got the feeling they didn’t treat him very well, to begin with. But who is this lovely ball of fluff? A present for Mary?”
Wolfe shook his head. “This is Stephanie. She will be in our care from now on. She is a Familiar Cat, and I will be bringing her to class so she can learn spells with everyone else. I’m told they can be quite Adept with magic, and since she is Bonded to me, she will get a lot of feedback to grow her strength.”
“So, you gained another Familiar?” Cassie asked suspiciously.
“An adorable and fluffy one,” Wolfe confirmed, sensing Stephanie’s discomfort at being called adorable. She would have to get used to it. She wasn’t who she used to be, and as of right now, she was absolutely lovely, in the way of all fluffy kittens. Only a monster could hate kittens.
“No wonder Demons are overpowered, not only taking multiple Familiars but being able to grow their Familiars’ powers so quickly. At least this one is just a pretty kitten and not some new Witch trying to steal you away from us.” Ella added with a smirk, reaching down to pet Stephanie.
The kitten tried her best to explain something, but the bond wasn’t strong enough to convey her words, and it just ended up looking like she wanted to play with Ella’s hand.
Ella, not understanding the intelligence hidden behind those intentions, decided to play along, leading to a very frustrated Stephanie before she realized that she could probably still find a way to write out what she wanted to tell everyone.
Unfortunately for her, the attempt to find a notepad was blocked by Mary and Reiko coming in to study for the evening.
“Did you get the materials? I heard about Stephen. How horrible. I hope nothing bad happens to him on the way back to the city.” Reiko greeted the room.
“Yeah, we collected them all. The Mud Monster at the River is a tricky one, though. We should probably warn any other first-year students that want Spirit Grass. What are you trying to cast anyhow?”
“We are going to make a clear mind potion. It’s an optional creation, so you need to provide materials or buy them from the school, but one drop a day is enough to improve your power of understanding and let you memorize spells much faster.”
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
Reiko handed over the recipe, and Wolfe realized that they had gathered enough materials for the four Witches to use this potion for an entire school year or more.
“I think we might have gone overboard. But on the bright side, if your friends want to make the potion as well, we have the ingredients.” Wolfe chuckled, showing everyone the content of the bags.
“Okay, that’s a lot. Did you think we were making stew in the cafeteria?” Mary joked when she saw the number of mundane ingredients that Wolfe had brought back with him.
Reiko pointed toward the slowly withering leaves of grass. “We need to do something with the Spirit Grass, though. It’s best when fresh, but we don’t have a flowerpot.”
The Spirit Grass reminded Wolfe of an aloe plant that one of the restaurants near his apartment had in the window of their shop, so he wadded up some tissue in a cup and added water before inserting the Spirit Grass leaves around the edge and pouring some mana into them.
The plant seemed to like that, leaning toward his hand while it slowly grew roots. It also looked much more healthy than it did before, beginning to recover from the damage of being clipped.
“That is incredible. That stuff is impossible to keep alive. Nearly every other plant responds to a Witch’s power, and even I can grow them with a thought if I have a good cutting, but not Spirit Grass.” Reiko commended Wolfe.
“It just likes me better.” Wolfe shrugged, suspecting it was simply because, like him, the plant stored pure mana inside its body and a Witch’s plant growth abilities didn’t fill its nutritional requirements.
Wolfe focused on one leaf to infuse with mana, placing a finger on it to let the plant absorb all it could and grow. It had increased in height by five centimetres when Wolfe’s mana was empty, which he clipped off for the potions they were making today.
“That should be enough for the recipe, and we can let the rest of this grow inside the room,” Wolfe explained.
“In that case, let’s borrow the lab tonight. There is lots of time until the ‘lights out’ warning, and the potion could be ready for tomorrow’s classes. We would get a head start on everyone.” Ella suggested.
Ella had never been indecisive about things she wanted, and today she wanted a potion to speed up her studies. The determination in her eyes said that she wouldn’t be easily dissuaded.
She took hold of Mary and Cassie’s hands and pulled them toward the door while Reiko shared a rueful look with Wolfe.
“I guess we are making it tonight, then. I don’t know why she’s in such a hurry. We are all so far ahead of the practical magic class that we won’t have to study anything else until after midterms.” Reiko whispered but followed the crowd.
Wolfe grabbed Stephanie from where she had gotten comfortable on the spare bed and let her curl up on his arm while he followed the group out of the room.
“Pay close attention. Potion-making is an important skill, or so I am told.” Wolfe reminded her as the Familiar Cat snuggled into the interior pocket of his uniform jacket, content to nap for now.
If Wolfe recalled correctly, cats actually slept for most of the day, and she had a very hectic one so far. He couldn’t blame her if she wanted to nap instead of focusing on the details of a clear mind potion, especially as she had likely never taken a potions class before.
Plus, the happy feeling that she was giving off through the bond as she made herself comfortable inside his pocked made Wolfe want to let her just do as she pleased. Even if she missed out on some studying, he couldn’t bring himself to chastise her when she was that happy.